Last week, according to the Houston Chronicle, Harris County Commissioners discussed in executive session a deal to purchase the Woodridge Village development in Montgomery County. Woodridge Village has contributed to repeated flooding of Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest. At issue: the possibility of turning the land into a regional detention facility that could help […]
More than 850 days after Hurricane Harvey, the City of Houston has released a 170-page report called Living with Water™. (Caution: 60-meg download.) A Primer on Green Flood Mitigation In many ways, Living with Water is a primer on flood mitigation in the Bayou City. It lays out many of the problems we face as […]
People often ask, “What happened to all that sand they took out of the river?” During the Army Corps Emergency West Fork San Jacinto Dredging Project in 2018 and 2019, they pumped approximately 2.3 million cubic yards of sand upriver to two “placement areas.” Placement Area 1 The first placement area: an active sand mine […]
Since flooding in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest last year, the TCEQ has completed half a dozen investigations of Woodridge Village with more in the works. Woodridge Village is the troubled Perry Homes development where contractors clearcut 268 acres while installing less than 25% of the required detention capacity. The TCEQ has repeatedly charged […]
David Seitzinger, a Kingwood professional engineer, has studied Harvey flooding since it happened. In this letter to the SJRA Board, Seitzinger urges the SJRA to continue its seasonal lake lowering strategy until other flood mitigation measures can be implemented. Here, Seitzinger addresses one of the main causes of misunderstanding about the policy. Many Lake Conroe […]
In 2018, Lake Houston area leaders identified a three-pronged strategy to help mitigate flooding. They dubbed it the “Plea for DDG.” Additional dredging, detention, and gates. Since then, dredging and gates have garnered the most media attention. Yesterday, however, we received some good news regarding additional upstream detention. HCFCD Buys First Part of Raveneaux Club […]
In response to complaints filed on October 23, 2019, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Houston Region Office issued a Notice of Violation to the developers of Woodridge Village. Figure Four Partners, LTD, a Perry Homes subsidiary, owns Woodridge Village, which contributed to the flooding of Elm Grove Village and North Kingwood Forest in […]
Harvey and the 80,000 CFS SJRA release during the storm destroyed virtually everything Camille Muñoz Pagel and her family had. The SJRA is now considering whether to continue lowering Lake Conroe seasonally and temporarily until other flood mitigation measures can be implemented. Pagel wants to share her experience in the hope that the SJRA will continue […]
Mark your calendar. On February 19, 2020, the Bayou City Initiative will hold its first meeting of 2020. The program is titled “Houston Flooding: A Vision for 2020 and Beyond.” Featured Speaker Charles Irvine The featured speaker will be Charles Irvine, Court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel of the Addicks/Barker “Upstream” flood case. He will discuss the historic […]
From Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous Kathy Perry Britton, CEO of Perry Homes, a titan of business and devotee of Zig “See You at the Top” Ziglar, has reportedly given up on her dream of building swamp homes in Woodridge Village. She has new ideas to turn mud into money. Her confidante and hairdresser […]